Lethbridge unemployment rate rises as less people look for work

The population in the Lethbridge Census Metropolitan Area, which includes some immediately surrounding communities, increased by 500 to 118,300.

The survey also had data for Calgary and Edmonton, and among the three cities, Lethbridge once again had the lowest unemployment rate.

Approximately 7.4 per cent of Calgarians who were able to work did not have a job in September, falling slightly from 7.5 per cent the month before.

Edmonton was well above the provincial and national average at nine per cent, rising from 8.6 per cent in August.

Across Alberta, the unemployment rate improved from 7.7 per cent in August to 7.5 per cent in September.

Similarly to Lethbridge, there was a decrease in the province’s labour force, which went down by 12,000 people or 0.4 per cent.

Some industries added quite a few jobs in Alberta last month, including healthcare and social assistance (+10,300), professional, scientific and technical services (+7,100), and natural resources (+6,200).

In others, there were sharp declines in the number of people working, such as educational services (-18,100), information, culture and recreation (-10,300), and manufacturing (-2,600).

Across Canada, the unemployment rate stayed relatively flat at 6.5 per cent last month.

The full Labour Force Survey can be found on Statistics Canada.

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by David Opinko

Lethbridge unemployment rate rises as less people look for work

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